The first batch of 2014 FCAT scores are to be released Friday. This will include scores for the key third-grade reading exam, which helps determine whether students advance to fourth grade or stay back in third.

The Florida Department of Education said that on Friday it will release third-grade reading and math scores as well as scores from the FCAT writing exams, taken by students in grades 4, 8 and 10.

This will be the first rollout of scores from the 2014 administration of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, a series of standardized exams in math, reading, science and writing. The exam scores are used to help make student promotion decisions, judge teacher quality and grade public schools A to F.

The state typically releases third-grade scores first because schools need to know who scored very poorly -- level 1 on the 5-level exam -- and, by state law, could be held back.

Third graders who failed the reading exam by scoring a 1 will be offered a chance to attend summer school and then take another reading exam to see if they can advance to fourth grade. Some likely will be promoted based on classwork that demonstrates they are solid readers (despite the low FCAT score), and some will meet the retention law's exemptions.

Common Core may be the most controversial education issue you know nothing about. It's been trashed on radio talk shows and touted in speeches, and it will be the subject of three public hearings across the state this month. Yet 55 percent of parents are clueless about the nationwide initiative,...